Ten man Exeter City's dismal away run continued as they were well beaten by Walsall.

After a hugely encouraging opening half hour from the Grecians, former Burnley striker Steve Jones fired home from inside the box and then doubled Walsall's lead before the interval with a fine run and shot past Andy Marriott.

Welsh right-back Richard Duffy then received a second yellow card for a foul on Darren Byfield and just three minutes later his strike partner Troy Deeney ran clear to slot home and complete a miserable afternoon for the vocal travelling fans.

Paul Tisdale made four changes from the side dismantled in Huddersfield last weekend with Scott Golbourne, Bertie Cozic, Marriott and Adam Stansfield coming in for Rob Edwards, James Dunne, Oscar Jansson and Craig Noone.

Tisdale told the press afterwards that Noone's injury has been getting worse in recent weeks and left the winger unable to train so the manager took the decision to leave him out today for a break to help the healing process.

Regular observers of this Exeter City side have noted that in recent weeks, especially away from home, there has been a lack of intensity in the first half and this has been reflected in the relatively slow starts to matches that have cost us dear.

But today was a different story and City really flew out the traps.

Marcus Stewart had the first chance of the opening exchanges that were dominated by the Grecians, his shot from Cozic's pass flying over the bar. And on seven minutes Matt Taylor headed Alex Russell's cross into the crowd and the side began to believe they could compete.

Former Hereford double act Fleetwood and Stansfield were reunited as City's front two this afternoon and their one-two ended with Fleetwood firing a shot straight into the midriff of Rene Gilmartin.

The away side had their tails up and were really taking the game to Walsall and showing signs of real confidence and Ryan Harley was unlucky not to get the goal that our possession deserved with two near identical long range efforts.

His first effort came at the end of a move that included the midfielder playing three wall passes with various players and then letting rip with a curling effort destined for the top corner if it wasn't for the reflexes of Gilmartin.

Alex Russell gets to the byline

Seven minutes later Harley tried his luck again from an almost identical position but the Irishman tipped it over.

City looked confident, assured and seemed destined for a fruitful afternoon until Man of the Match Steve Jones, signed from Burnley in the summer, turned the game on its head just before the half hour mark.

Byfield's pull-back was fired home into the bottom corner from inside the box and the Grecians once again faced an uphill struggle and the confidence seemed to ebb away.

Byfield then fizzed an effort past Marriott's post before the injured Gilmartin was replaced by former Trinidad and Tobago keeper Clayton Ince.

The injury to the shotstopper meant extra time added on at the end of the first half and it was almost two minutes into the allotted time when Jones struck the decisive goal of the afternoon with a run and fantastic 25 yard drive that whizzed past the diving Marriott.

Jones was influential throughout and just after the interval could have made it three but his curling effort was headed off the line by Richard Duffy.

Stansfield loses out

Stansfield and Cozic both had chances for the Grecians as they looked to come back into the game before Duffy made their job even harder with his second yellow card.

The match was well and truly put to bed on 69 minutes. The ball fortuitously fell to Deeney after a tackle by Dan Seaborne and the linesman's flag stayed down despite strong suspicions of offside and the striker had the simple chance of running clear and slotting the ball past Andy Marriott.

Tisdale threw caution to the wind and introduced this season's impact substitutes Barry Corr and Richard Logan and the latter created a fantastic chance for Steve Tully soon after with a peach of a crossfield ball.

But the right-back cut inside and his shot was deflected and trickled agonisingly past the far post.

City were pouring forward and were always susceptible to being hit on the break and that was exactly what happened, Marriott saving superbly to deny Jones his hat-trick on 82 minutes.

Golbourne put in an impressive display

The away side continued to search for a consolation but it wasn't to be. City were winning plenty of corners and hitting plenty of balls into the Walsall box but Ince was quick off his line and easily up to the task of keeping the somewhat blunt Exeter attack at bay.

Overall this was a much improved performance from the Hudderfield hammering but yet again City had nothing to show for their troubles on another fruitless away trip.

The away support was once again superb and City packed the away end at the Banks's Stadium and gave sustained vocal encouragement throughout.

The fans and management will be looking for some home comfort in the coming weeks with games against our fellow League One newcomers Wycombe and Brentford to come before the FA Cup roars into action in early November.

City lined up:

                       Marriott

Duffy   Taylor   Seaborne  Golbourne

           Cozic   Russell   Harley

                        Stewart

             Fleetwood   Stansfield

Subs:

Logan (Stewart 73)

Corr (Fleetwood 73)

Tully (Russell 65)

The Official Website will have interviews with Paul Tisdale and Steve Tully in the coming days as well as our exclusive question and answer session with Richard Logan.